Kenton’s Mauk turned in historic season

KENTON ‚?? The national spotlight has shone on Kenton quarterback Maty Mauk for the past four football seasons.

And for the past four seasons, Mauk has delivered.

Mauk will end his illustrious high school football career with five national records to his credit. Upon graduation, Mauk will play football at the University of Missouri.

Maty‚??s brother Ben set the national passing record while playing at Kenton (1999-2002). Ben ended his high school career with 17,364 yards. However, Maty broke the mark this season during a first-round Division IV playoff game against Wellington.

Mauk came into the Wellington game needing 101 yards to eclipse his brother‚??s record. It took him only three passes to surpass it. Mauk completed his first 19 pass attempts and ended the night completing 27 of 29 passes to lead Kenton to a 74-22 shellacking of Wellington.

For his career (up through this past weekend), Mauk has thrown for 18,103 yards and 210 touchdowns, both national records. The other national records Mauk set this season were total offensive yards (21,754); passing attempts (2,022) and completions (1,300).

For the season (Week 13), Mauk has completed 329 of 477 passes (69 percent) for 4,584 yards and 59 TDs with 12 interceptions. As a runner, Mauk rushed for 1,664 yards on 208 carries with 22 touchdowns. Some of Mauk‚??s highlights this season include: One 500-yard passing game; four 400-yard passing games; one 9-TD passing game; an eight TD passing game and a seven TD passing game.

Mauk is now focused on the one thing that has eluded him the previous three football seasons ‚?? a state championship. This past Saturday, Kenton defeated the defending Division IV state champions Columbus Bishop Hartley 30-28 in a regional championship. On Saturday, Kenton (13-0) will take on Clinton-Massie (11-2) in a state semifinal at Piqua.

Mauk said despite all of the national attention, breaking records has not been the main focus.

‚??It (breaking the national passing record) wasn‚??t the first thing I wanted to do,‚?Ě Mauk said. ‚??I wanted to come out and win games first. But, coming into this season, I started to think about it. I was happy to finally get it.‚?Ě

Mauk said his aspirations of being a quarterback started at an early age.

‚??I started at quarterback in junior high,‚?Ě Mauk said. ‚??I knew then that I wanted to play quarterback. I wanted to be just like him (Ben).‚?Ě

Ben went on to play collegiality at Wake Forest and the University of Cincinnati.

Kenton coach Mike Mauk, Maty‚??s father, said winning football games has always taken precedence over breaking records. This season marks the ninth time Kenton has made the playoffs. Kenton has won two state championships (2001, 2002) and was state runner-up once (2003).

‚??We set some specific goals each season,‚?Ě Coach Mauk said. ‚??The first goal is to have a winning season. The second goal is to win the WBL (Western Buckeye League). To win the WBL four years in a row is not easy.

‚??Then, to get into the playoffs each year is not always easy. Once we get into the playoffs, our goal is to win a state championship.‚?Ě